Ralph Fiennes will begin shooting his directorial debut Coriolanus next week.

The award-winning British actor will also star in the historic epic alongside Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox when filming begins in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 17.

Ralph, who is also producing the big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, will star as revered Roman General Coriolanus, at odds with the city of Rome and his fellow citizens.

Pushed by his controlling mother Volumnia (Vanessa) to enter the Senate, he is loath to ingratiate himself with the masses, despite needing their votes to secure a Senate seat.

When the public refuse to support him, Coriolanus’s anger prompts a riot which culminates in his expulsion from Rome. The banished hero then allies himself with his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard) to take his revenge on the city.

The cast also features John Kani, Paul Jesson, James Nesbitt, Ashraf Barhom, Lubna Azabal and Jessica Chastain – soon to be seen in Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life and John Madden’s The Debt – as Coriolanus’s wife Virgilia.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and Oscar-winning sound mixer Ray Beckett, who both worked on The Hurt Locker, are among the crew.

source: The Press Association